Satellite positioning system receivers with microelectromechanical systems oscillators

ABSTRACT

Apparatus and methods permit the use of a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) oscillator in a satellite positioning system receiver, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Techniques to ameliorate jitter or phase noise disadvantages associated with MEMS oscillators are disclosed. For example, a receiver can use one or more of the following techniques: (a) use another source of information to retrieve ephemeris information, (2) perform advanced tight coupling, and/or (3) use a phase-locked loop to clean up the jitter or phase noise of the MEMS oscillator. With respect to advanced tight coupling, an advanced tight coupling processor can include nonlinear discriminators which transform I and Q data into linear residual measurements corrupted by unbiased, additive, and white noise. It also includes an amplitude estimator configured to operate in rapidly changing, high power noise; a measurement noise variance estimator; and a linear residual smoothing filter for input to the navigation filter.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The invention generally relates to satellite positioning systems, suchas GPS. In particular, the invention relates to receivers for satellitepositioning systems utilizing MEMS oscillators.

Description of the Related Art

A typical receiver for a satellite positioning system receiver such as aglobal positioning system (GPS) receiver uses a relatively expensivequartz crystal oscillator, such as a heated crystal oscillator or atemperature compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO). While MEMSoscillators are desirably cheaper than crystal oscillators, theimplementation of a GPS receiver using a MEMS oscillator has been to bedifficult to achieve due to the higher phase noise characteristics ofMEMS oscillators.

SUMMARY

One embodiment includes a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiverincluding: a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) oscillator configuredto generate a first clock signal as an output; a frequency synthesizerconfigured to receive the first clock signal from the MEMS oscillator asan input and configured to generate a local oscillator signal as anoutput; a downconverter configured to downconvert one or more receivedradio frequency (RF) signals using the local oscillator signal togenerate an intermediate frequency (IF) signal; an analog-to-digitalconverter configured to receive the IF signal and generate a digital IFsignal; a plurality of channel signal processors configured to despreadGPS signals from the digital IF signal and generate pseudo-rangeestimates to space vehicles, wherein a channel signal processor of theplurality of channel signal processors comprises a carrier numericallycontrolled oscillator (NCO) and a code NCO, wherein the carrier NCO andthe clock NCO are configured to receive an NCO clock signal based on thefirst clock signal from the MEMS oscillator as an input; and anavigation processor configured to extract at least position informationbased at least on the plurality of pseudo-range estimates.

One embodiment includes a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiverincluding: a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) oscillator configuredto generate a first clock signal as an output; a phase-locked loopconfigured to receive the first clock signal as an input, and togenerate an NCO clock signal as an output, wherein the NCO clock signalhas less phase noise relative to the first clock signal; and a pluralityof channel signal processors configured to despread GPS signals andconfigured to generate pseudo-range estimates to space vehicles, whereina channel signal processor of the plurality of channel signal processorscomprises at least one numerically controlled oscillator (NCO), whereinthe at least one NCO is configured to receive the NCO clock signal; anda navigation processor configured to extract at least positioninformation based at least on the plurality of pseudo-range estimates.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These drawings and the associated description herein are provided toillustrate specific embodiments of the invention and are not intended tobe limiting.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a GPS receiver with a MEMS oscillator.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system for coupling GPS and inertialnavigation sensors, which can be used with a MEMS oscillator.

FIG. 3 is block diagram showing one embodiment of a tracking processor.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a GPS receiver with a MEMS oscillatorthat is stabilized with respect to jitter via a phase-locked loop.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a GPS receiver with a MEMS oscillatorthat is stabilized with respect to jitter via a phase-locked loopequipped with a tunable crystal oscillator.

To avoid repetition of description, components having the same orsimilar function may be referenced by the same reference number.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the invention advantageously integrate amicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS) oscillator with a receiver for aglobal navigation satellite system (GNSS), such as a receiver for theNAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS).

It can be relatively difficult to integrate a MEMS oscillator into a GPSreceiver. Compared to conventional crystal oscillators, MEMS oscillatorscan have relatively large amounts of jitter and/or phase noise, and canbe relatively sensitive to temperature.

For example, these characteristics can make it difficult for a GPS tosuccessfully decode the navigation message from GPS signals. The jitterand/or phase noise can affect the available operating states of a GPSreceiver. There are 7 possible operating states for a GPS receiver thatare understood by one having ordinary skill in the art. The twooperating states of interest in this disclosure are states 3 and 5. Instate 3, a GPS receiver can maintain code lock, but cannot maintaincarrier tracking. In state 3, pseudorange measurements will not havefull accuracy. In state 5, a GPS receiver is able to track the carrierprecisely and demodulate data, such as the navigation message. Withoutthe navigation message, information carried by the navigation message,such as ephemeris parameters, time parameters, and clock offsets may notbe available to the GPS receiver. In some prior art systems, a MEMSoscillator is used to track time such as when a GPS receiver is notoperating in an active GPS state, such as when turned off orhibernating, to save power. Embodiments disclosed herein use a MEMSoscillator to generate oscillator signals for operation in at least oneof states 3 or 5.

While illustrated in the context of the NAVSTAR Global PositioningSystem (GPS), the principles and advantages described herein areapplicable to other GNSS, such as, but not limited to, the RussianGLONASS system, the European Galileo system, the Chinese COMPASS system,the Indian IRNSS system, or the like. Although particular embodimentsare described herein, other embodiments of the invention, includingembodiments that do not provide all of the benefits and features setforth herein, will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a GPS receiver with a MEMS oscillator138. For clarity, standard components such as filters and low noiseamplifiers are not shown in FIG. 1. The GPS receiver uses an antenna 101to receive radio frequency signals from GPS space vehicles, and the GPSreceiver uses determines at least position information from the receivedRF signals. The illustrated GPS receiver includes a radio frequency downconverter (RFDC) 102, an analog to digital converter (ADC) 118, aplurality of channel signal processors 120, an ephermeris data store134, a navigation processor 136, a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)oscillator 138, and a frequency synthesizer 140. In certain embodiments,the receiver can include a beamformer.

The signals from the antenna 101 are provided as inputs to a front-endof the receiver, which can include the RFDC 102. Other components of atypical front end, such as filters and low noise amplifiers, can beconsidered to be part of the RFDC 102. To perform downconverting, theRFDC 102 mixes one or more received radio frequency (RF) or GPS signalsusing a local oscillator (LO) signal from the frequency synthesizer 140to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) signal, which is a compositesignal.

The analog-to-digital converter 118 receives the IF signal as an inputand generates a digital IF signal as an output. The digital IF signal isprovided as inputs to the plurality of channel signal processors 120, anexample of one of which is shown in FIG. 1 in greater detail. Forexample, a channel signal processor of the plurality of channel signalprocessors 120 can include a first mixer 122 for an in-phase componentof the digital IF signal, a second mixer 124 for a quadrature-phasecomponent of the digital IF signal, correlators or digital matchedfilters 128, a channel processing block 132, a code numericallycontrolled oscillator (NCO) 130, and a carrier numerically controlledoscillator (NCO) 126. A particular channel signal processor of theplurality is dedicated to acquiring and tracking a particular GPS codefrom a particular space vehicle. For example, a GPS space vehicle cantransmit a coarse acquisition (C/A) code, a precise (P(Y)) code, andpossibly other codes, such as a military (M) code. GPS receiversintended for consumer applications will typically have only channelsignal processors for the C/A code. GPS receivers intended for consumerapplications will typically have channel signal processors for at leastboth the C/A code and the precise code.

The plurality of channel signal processors 120 acquire and track GPSsignals from the IF signal and generate pseudo-range estimates to spacevehicles. A GPS receiver uses the pseudo-range estimates together withother information to generate, for example, at least one of time,positioning information, velocity, acceleration, and the like.

The carrier NCO 126 generates a local oscillator signal, which isconverted into a first phase and a second phase (for example, sine andcosine) for mixing. A lookup table can be used to generate the sine andcosine waveforms. The first mixer 122 mixes the digital IF signal withthe first phase from the carrier NCO 126 to generate an in-phasecomponent of the GPS signal, and the second mixer 124 mixes the digitalIF signal with the second phase from the carrier NCO 126 to generate aquadrature-phase component of the GPS signal. The in-phase component andthe quadrature-phase components are then provided as inputs to thecorrelators 128. In one typical arrangement, 3 correlators are used foreach code to detect early, late, and on-time tracking. The code chipsfrom the in-phase component and the code chips from the quadrature-phaseare multiplied and integrated within the correlators 128 by code chipsof a replica code at a rate determined by the code NCO 130. The replicacode varies among the space vehicles. The correlators 128 are used toacquire and track the GPS signals. The channel processing block 132controls the code and carrier NCOs 130, 126 for tracking andacquisition.

After a GPS signal has been acquired and is being tracked, pseudo-rangeand pseudo-range rates between the receiver and the space vehicle can bedetermined, and can be provided as outputs of the channel processingblock 132.

In the illustrated embodiment, the code and carrier NCOs 130, 126 andthe frequency synthesizer 140 are driven by a clock signal from the MEMSoscillator 138. In many GPS architectures, the phase noise or jitter andthe temperature instability of a MEMS oscillator 138 is so high that aGPS signal cannot be reliably acquired or tracked. Thus, a conventionalGPS receiver will typically use a relatively expensive crystaloscillator, such as a heated crystal oscillator or a temperaturecompensated crystal oscillator (TCXO), instead of a MEMS oscillator.However, several advantages of MEMS oscillators exist. For example, aMEMS oscillator can be fabricated with other silicon devices, such assilicon used for electronics or for an inertial measurement system,which can provide a cost advantage over a crystal oscillator, which istypically fabricated off-chip. MEMS oscillators can also be more immuneto relatively high g-forces, such as those encountered with artilleryprojectiles, electromagnetic projectiles, or the like. MEMS oscillatorcan be advantageously used in a GPS receiver used for guidance of anyprecision guided munition or to kits for adding guidance to munitions,such as a guided artillery shell, guided electromagnetic projectile(rail gun round), guided mortar rounds, guided missiles, smart bombs, orthe like. An example of a smart bomb kit is the Joint Direct AttackMunition or JDAM.

A function performed by many typical GPS receivers is to decode thenavigation message from the GPS signals. The navigation message carriesinformation needed for determining positioning based on the GPS signals.For example, the navigation message carries the ephemeris parameters,which describe the coordinates of the particular space vehicle. Thenavigation message also carries time parameters, clock corrections,service parameters, an ionospheric parameters model, and almanacs, whichcan be useful to successful determination of position of the GPSreceiver. One problem that was recognized by the inventors is that whilecertain GPS receiver architectures may be able to track and acquire aGPS signal with a MEMS oscillator, the navigation message could not bereliably decoded with the phase noise and/or jitter of the MEMSoscillator. Thus, some embodiments described herein use ephemerisinformation that is provided by another source, which can be internal orexternal to the GPS receiver.

When the GPS receiver is part of an integrated device, such as acellphone or a smartphone, the ephemeris parameters can be downloadedfrom a WiFi network or a cellular telephony network from within thesmartphone and transferred to the GPS receiver portion of the phone inan “Assisted GPS” or A-GPS like manner. However, in many embodiments, aGPS receiver will not have access to a WiFi network or a cellulartelephony network. For example, a standalone GPS receiver (such asportable GPS receiver) or a GPS receiver used for projectile guidancewill typically not have access to a WiFi network or to a cellulartelephony network.

For these applications without access to a WiFi network or to a cellulartelephony network, a different GPS receiver can be used to decode thenavigation message, and the contents of the navigation message, such asat least the ephemeris parameters, can be uploaded to the GPS receivervia a wired or wireless connection. In another example, the ephemerisparameters can be downloaded from a computer network, such as theInternet. For external data transfer, a serial port, an inductive loop,an infrared transceiver, a radio frequency transmitter/receiver (such asBluetooth, WiFi) or the like can be used to transfer the ephemerisparameters, which can be then stored in memory of the GPS receiver.These techniques permit a GPS receiver that is incapable of extractingthe navigation message from the GPS signals to still be used to providepositioning information, and can make implementation of a relativelylow-cost and/or high-g performing MEMS oscillator based GPS receiverpractical.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system for coupling GPS and inertialnavigation sensors, which can be used with a MEMS oscillator. Thearchitecture illustrated in FIG. 2 can successfully acquire and trackGPS signals using a MEMS oscillator. However, in certain embodiments,the ephemeris parameters 134 are provided from an external source.

These and other problems are solved by an Advanced Tightly Coupled (ATC)multi-satellite tracking system for high dynamic vehicle navigation in ahigh noise environment. Nonlinear transformations of I and Q trackermeasurements are developed to yield linear measurements of pseudorangeand delta carrier phase errors corrupted by white, additive, andunbiased noise. The system's design parameters are provided byapplication of linear estimation theory, allowing it to be easilyintegrated into existing navigation filter designs.

In one embodiment, during real-time operation, the system can handlejamming to signal interference ratios greater than 60 dB. In oneembodiment, the system adapts to changing levels of interference and canoperate without knowledge of the GPS navigation data bit. After initialGPS signal acquisition, it is possible to transition into the AdvancedTight Coupling mode, although standard tracking loops can still beemployed at low jamming to signal ratios.

In one embodiment of the ATC multi-satellite tracking system, thenavigation filter outputs vehicle trajectory estimates along with IMUand user clock error estimates. In one embodiment, a standard extendedKalman filter is used to implement the navigation filter. In a real-timesystem, the greater the number of filter states the less time will beavailable for the ATC tracking processor to function. In one embodiment,the navigation filter includes 24 states, and provides processing inless than one tenth of a second.

The navigation filter's trajectory and IMU error estimates are used bythe strapdown navigation equations to correct the IMU measurements andpropagate the vehicle's state between the one second navigation filter'soutputs. Satellite ephemeris data, which has been obtained from thenavigation message, is combined with the vehicle's position and velocityestimates to determine range and range rate estimates to each satellite.These estimates drive carrier and code numerically controlledoscillators (NCO) to generate replica carrier and code signals.

The replica signals are mixed with the GPS carrier and code signals in aphase de-rotation and correlation process to produce in-phase (I) andquadra-phase (Q) measurements. These measurements are nonlinearfunctions of the range measurement error and ambiguous carrier phaseerror. The carrier phase ambiguity refers to the unknown number of wholecycles from the satellite to the vehicle. The ATC tracking processorestimates residual measurements for the navigation filter from the I andQ data.

The I and Q measurements are functions of amplitude, navigation databit, correlation function, and sine and cosine, respectively, of thephase error. The correlation function is a known function of the rangeerror, and the noise on the Is and Qs is white, additive, unbiased, andGaussian.

In one embodiment of the ATC tracking processor, the Is and Qs are firstsmoothed for a period of time. In one embodiment, such time periodcorresponds to the amount of time that the navigation data bit isexpected to be constant (e.g., approximately 20 milliseconds). Thesmoothed Is and Qs are then passed through two nonlinear transformationsconfigured according to their linearity and additive noise properties.Since the nonlinear transformations tend to increase the measurementnoise relative to the Is and Qs, it is desirable to smooth the Is and Qsbefore applying the transformation.

The range residual transformation, made up of the early and late Is andQs, produces a measurement that is a linear function of range residualerror. The range rate residual transformation, made up of the prompt Isand Qs, produces a measurement that is a linear function of range rateresidual error, however, the square of the correlation function remainsas a multiplier. Both transformed measurements are also multiplied bythe square of the I and Q amplitude. The noise on each is additive, zeromean, and white with a variance given by a deterministic equationdominated by the variance of the I and Q noise. To describe thesetransformed measurements and their noise statistics, the I and Qamplitude and noise variance are estimated.

The range and range rate transformed measurements, typically generated,for example, at a 20 millisecond rate, are processed in order to obtainresidual error estimates at desired intervals for the navigation filter.In one embodiment, the residual error estimates are provided atapproximately one second intervals. In one embodiment, a three-statephase error estimator processes the measurements. Since total phasescales to range through the carrier signal wavelength, knowledge of thephase error yields the desired residual measurements for the navigationfilter.

The phase error states (phase, phase rate, and phase acceleration) arepropagated assuming that the phase acceleration is constant. Thisresults in a linear dynamic equation with a constant transition matrix.There are four measurements for each satellite, range and range rate forL1 and L2 signals. The range measurement matrix is a constant scaled bythe I and Q amplitude, whereas the range rate measurement matrix is alsoscaled by the correlation function. Since this is a relatively slowlyvarying function, it is assumed constant over the one second processinginterval. As previously stated, the measurement noise matrix in lowsignal to noise environments is dominated by the I and Q noise variance.

Given the above dynamics and measurement process, a linear, minimumvariance, unbiased estimator can be realized using a Kalman filter. Theprimary approximation is due to the measurement noise, which isunbiased, additive, and white but not Gaussian. In one embodiment, themeasurement noise variance in the filter is increased to account forthis.

The constant, linear state transition and the linear, and approximatelyconstant measurement relations, allow the phase error estimator tohandle relatively large magnitude swings in the measurements in thepresence of relatively high noise. It is the ability to estimate thestatistics of the noise that allows the parameters in the phase errorestimator to be adjusted properly.

The amplitude on the Is and Qs can rapidly change due to variations inantenna gain, radio frequency signal processing (amplifiers, mixers,filters), and the automatic gain control amplifier, which maintains aconstant input to an analog to digital converter. A measurement of theamplitude can be obtained from the early and late Is and Qs, but itbecomes noisy as the signal to noise ratio decreases. However, thesatellite signal amplitude at the GPS antenna input is constant over areasonable length of time.

In one embodiment, a one state, one measurement, Kalman filter isdesigned for the L1 and L2 signals for each satellite. The approximatelyconstant satellite signal amplitude at the antenna is the state to beestimated. The measurements are the noisy I and Q amplitudes calculatedfrom the early and late Is and Qs. The measurements are related to thestate by the total system gain from the antenna to the analog to digitalconverter. The total system gain is approximately known from designparameters and can be improved in real-time by calibration andtemperature compensation.

When the interference noise is low, the I and Q amplitude measurement isprojected back through the system gain to estimate the constantsatellite signal amplitude. Then, when the noise increases, thesatellite signal amplitude estimate is projected forward through thesystem gain to estimate the I and Q amplitude. This process produces anapproximately nonrandom multiplier for the range and range rate residualerror measurements during periods of high signal interference. Thishelps the phase error estimator perform properly in a relatively highnoise environment.

The noise variance on the Is and Qs is computed in part by assuming thateach satellite's processing channel has one correlator sufficiently awayfrom the code that it contains only noise. Since the noise is eitherfrom the radio signal processing channel or from external interference,it is the same for all satellites. However, each satellite's code is apseudo random sequence, which when correlated with the input noise,produces uncorrelated noise between the satellites with equal variance.In one embodiment, a running average filter is used to compute the noisevariance using the noise correlator signals from all satellite channels.

GPS receivers employ tracking loops to generate pseudorange and deltapseudorange measurements for each satellite. The GPS signal at thevehicle's antenna is amplified, down converted, and digitized prior toentering the tracking loops. It is a composite signal, containinginformation from all visible satellites.

In each satellite tracking loop, the incoming carrier signal is mixedwith a replica of the carrier to produce in-phase (I) andquadrature-phase (Q) signals with a small phase error. These Is and Qsare transformed into an explicit phase error signal, integrated,subsampled, filtered and fed to a numerically controlled oscillator togenerate the replica carrier signal. This process is referred to as thecarrier tracking loop.

An inner loop correlates the Is and Qs with on time, one half chipearly, and one half chip late replica codes for the specific satellitebeing tracked. The Is and Qs are now only a function of the codecorrelation and phase error. These are transformed into an explicitpseudorange error signal, integrated, subsampled, filtered, and fed to anumerically controlled oscillator to clock the satellite replica code.This inner loop is referred to as the code tracking loop.

A major tracking loop design tradeoff is the ability to handle highvehicle dynamics and to also track through high interfering noise. Oneway of solving this problem is to aid the carrier tracking loop with anInertial Navigation Unit (IMU) and let the carrier loop aid the codeloop. The IMU will remove short term dynamics from the tracking loop andthus allow the loop bandwidth to be reduced. Decreasing the bandwidthresults in greater noise suppression.

In some embodiments, the output of each satellite's tracking loopincludes pseudorange and delta pseudorange measurements. These, alongwith satellite ephemeris and IMU measurements, are provided as inputs toa navigation filter which estimates vehicle position, velocity,attitude, user clock parameters, and IMU error terms. In real-timesystems, the navigation filter usually runs at a 1 Hz rate, butalternative rates can be used. The navigation filter sends estimates tothe IMU strapdown navigator, which corrects the IMU specific force andangular rate measurements and then integrates them to obtain highfrequency trajectory estimates. The velocity estimates are projectedalong each satellite's line of sight for tracking loop aiding. Thisconfiguration is called a tightly coupled system.

Standard GPS carrier and code tracking loops, with aiding from a mediumgrade IMU, normally break lock at jamming to signal ratios of 47 and 57dB respectively. For high dynamic vehicles, these maximum jamming ratioscan be achieved by aiding the tracking loops with IMU data as describedabove.

Recently, jamming to signal ratios above 60 dB have been attained byclosing the tracking loops through the navigation filter. Thismulti-satellite tracking loop structure is derived from the maximumlikelihood estimate of the pseudorange error given the composite GPSsignal at the input to the tracking processor. In this configuration,position and velocity estimates from the strapdown navigator areprojected along each satellite's line of sight to generate range andrange rate estimates to each satellite. These drive numericallycontrolled oscillators whose outputs are mixed with the digitized I andQ data, processed, and input to the navigation filter as residual(measurement−estimated measurement) estimates for each satellite. Thenavigation filter outputs vehicle trajectory and IMU error estimates tothe strapdown navigator to close the multi-satellite tracking loop.

Because every GPS satellite tracking loop includes the navigationfilter, each satellite is integrated with the IMU and other trackedsatellites. In this mode, the satellites aid each other, and with theIMU, generate a more robust navigation solution.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing multi-satellite tracking system 200 inwhich a MEMS oscillator 138 can be used. However, it will be understoodthat other GPS receiver topologies may be applicable. Advantageously,the topology illustrated in FIG. 2 can tolerate MEMS oscillators havingrelatively large amounts of jitter and/or phase noise. In the system200, satellite navigation signals (radio frequency signals) are receivedby the antenna 101 and provided to the Radio Frequency Down Converter(RFDC) 102. A local oscillator signal can be generated by the MEMSoscillator 138 and used by the RFDC 102 to downconvert one or more radiofrequency (RF) signals. The downconverted signals (intermediatefrequency) from the RFDC 102 can be converted from analog to digitalform by the analog-to-digital converter 118. Downconverted signals fromthe RFDC 102 or ADC 118 are provided to a phase de-rotation andcorrelation block 203.

The phase de-rotation and correlation block 203 despreads the directsequence spread spectrum (DSSS) signals of a GPS satellite. A replicacode corresponding to either a coarse acquisition (C/A) code or to aprecise (P(Y)) code is correlated with the downconverted signal using acorrelator or digital matched filter. The code chips for the replicacode are timed using clock signals from a code NCO of the code andcarrier NCOs 210. A clock signal from the MEMS oscillator 138 can beapplied as an input to a clock input of an NCO of the code and carrierNCOs 210. Acquisition and tracking loops synchronize the replica codewith code carried by the received signals. The carrier NCO portion ofthe code and carrier NCOs can be optional and used for greaterprecision.

De-rotated and correlated signals from the phase de-rotation andcorrelation block 203 are provided to an advanced tightly coupled (ATC)tracking processor 204. The ATC tracking processor 204 providesresiduals of range, range rate and range acceleration to a navigationKalman filter 205, which can be a 24-state Kalman filter. Navigationstate errors from the navigation Kalman filter 205 are provided to astrapdown navigation processor block 206. Navigation data from anInertial Measurement Unit (IMU) 207 are provided to the strapdownnavigation processor block 206. The strapdown navigation processor block206 provides corrected navigation state information to a projectionblock 208 and propagated state information to the navigation Kalmanfilter 205. Satellite Position, Velocity, and Acceleration (PVA) dataare provided from a PVA block 209 to the projection block 208 and to thenavigation Kalman filter 205. The PVA block 209 can base the satellitePVA based on ephemeris parameters 134, which is ordinarily carried inthe navigation message of a GPS signal and decoded from the navigationmessage. However, with a MEMS oscillator, the increased jitter and/orphase noise of a MEMS oscillator can render decoding of the navigationmessage impractical or undependable. In certain embodiments, rather thandecode the ephemeris parameters from the navigation message, thecontents of the navigation message are retrieved from another datasource, such as a server, and loaded into the GPS receiver, such as fromanother satellite receiver or from data retrieved from a wireless datanetwork, such as, but not limited to, a cellular phone network, a localarea network, or a wide area network, such as the Internet. Examples ofwireless networks include GSM, CDMA, LTE, Wi-Fi, and the like. Theprojection block 208 projects the navigation data onto the satelliteline of sight and provides the projected data to a NumericallyControlled Oscillator (NCO) block 210. The NCO block 210 provides codeand carrier NCO signals to the phase de-rotation and correlation block203, thereby closing the code and carrier tracking loops.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the ATC tracking processor 204 and alsoillustrates a GPS signal tracker 301 and the navigation Kalman filter205. The illustrated ATC tracking processor 204 includes an amplitudeestimator 311, one or more discriminators 312, phase error estimators313, and a measurement noise variance estimator 320. The GPS signaltracker 301 can be part of the phase de-rotation and correlation block203. The GPS signal tracker 301 provides early (E), on-time (P), andlate (L) Is and Qs to the amplitude estimator 311. The GPS signaltracker 301 also provides data to one or more discriminators 312. Theamplitude estimator 311 provides satellite signal amplitude estimates toone or more phase error estimators 313. Residuals and variances areprovided to a navigation Kalman filter 205. The navigation Kalman filter205 computes estimates for vehicle position, velocity, attitude, clock,accelerometer bias, accelerometer scale factor, gyro bias, and gyroscale factor.

In the system 200, all satellite signals and IMU measurements arecombined in a single process to estimate the vehicle trajectory andassociated system error parameters. This structure follows from amaximum likelihood estimator of GPS signal parameters.

The navigation Kalman filter 205 estimates vehicle position, velocity,attitude, clock and IMU error parameters and the like at a relativelylow rate. In one embodiment, the navigation Kalman filter 205 providesestimates at intervals of one second. The IMU vehicle angular rate andspecific force measurements are compensated and adjusted using theestimated error parameters. The measurements are then integrated by thestrapdown equations in the strapdown navigation processor block 206 toobtain vehicle position, velocity, and attitude estimates at arelatively higher rate (e.g., 100 Hz).

These estimates are projected along each satellite's line of sight toobtain range and range rate estimates, which are used to drive the codeand carrier NCOs 210. The carrier NCO output of the code and carrierNCOs 210 is mixed with the GPS signal phase, resulting in a phase error,θ_(e). The code NCOs of the code and carrier NCOs 210 drives the codegenerator. The generator's output is correlated with the incoming GPScode, resulting in a correlation magnitude between zero and one.

This process generates the following I and Q functions for eachsatellite at the relatively higher rate (e.g., at a 1 KHz rate), forprompt (P), early (E), and late (L) signals:I _(P) =A d R(ρ_(e))cos(θ_(e))+η_(p)Q _(P) =A d R(ρ_(e))sin(θe)+ε_(P)I _(E) =A d R(ρ_(e) −b/2)cos(θ_(e))+η_(E)Q _(E) =A d R(ρ_(e) −b/2)sin(θ_(e))+ε_(E)I _(L) =A d R(ρ_(e) +b/2)cos(θ_(e))+η_(L)Q _(L) =A d R(ρ_(e) +b/2)sin(θ_(e))+ε_(L)

-   -   where:        -   R(ρ_(e))=max[1−(|ρ_(e)≡/b), 0],        -   b=code chip in meters (=29.3 m for P code),        -   A=amplitude, different for L1 and L2,        -   d=BPSK navigation data bit, constant for 20 ms,        -   ρ_(e)=residual (measurement−estimate) range error, meters,        -   θ_(e)=L1 residual phase error, radians−different for L2        -   η, ε=additive, white, Gaussian noise, zero-mean, variance            σ_(I,Q) ².

The additive, white, zero-mean, Gaussian noise is assumed to beuncorrelated (approximately) between Is and Qs at the same time. Thenoise terms on the Is (ε) are assumed to be uncorrelated with the noiseterms on the Qs (η) at the same instant of time. Also, because the noiseon each satellite's Is and Qs is the product of the incoming RF noiseand the satellite's pseudorandom code, the early and late noise termsare uncorrelated with each other but they are correlated with the promptnoise terms at a correlation coefficient equal one-half.

In the GPS signal tracker 301, the early and late Is and Qs are smoothedfor a desired time period (e.g., 20 ms in one embodiment) while the databit is assumed to be constant and assuming that ρ_(c) and θ_(e) arerelatively constant over that interval. The result has the same form asthe above equations but with the noise variance changed toσ_(ELS)=σ_(IQ)/√{square root over (20)}

In one embodiment, the prompt Is and Qs are smoothed for 10 ms each in a20 ms interval to yield:I _(P) ,Q _(p) ,I _(PO) ,Q _(PO) with noise varianceσ_(PS)=σ_(IQ)/√{square root over (10)}

To close the tracking loop through the navigation Kalman filter 205, therange and range rate residuals are computed by the phase errorestimators 313 and provided to the navigation Kalman filter 205. In oneembodiment, the estimates are provided to the navigation Kalman filter205 at approximately 1 Hz intervals. These residuals are estimated fromthe smoothed Is and Qs by first transforming them into measurements ofρ_(e) and Δθ_(e) and then applying a Kalman filter to process themeasurements to obtain the 1 Hz navigation filter residual estimates.

The ATC multi-satellite tracking system can estimate the vehicle'strajectory using inertial and GPS measurements in the presence ofbroadband jamming noise. If the Is and Qs were directly employed asmeasurements to estimate residuals for the navigation filter, the phaseerror would render them ambiguous when it exceeded 2 π radians. Thiscorresponds to a maximum range residual of 0.19 meters (the wavelengthof L1), which would easily be exceeded in the presence of anysignificant jamming noise. The following nonlinear transformationsgenerate ρ_(e) d and Δθ_(e) measurements that are not ambiguous forlarge tracking errors.

Range residual measurements for L1 are given by:

$\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{Y_{R} = {I_{E}^{2} + Q_{E}^{2} - I_{L}^{2} - Q_{L}^{2}}} \\{= {{{A^{2}\left( {2{\rho_{e}/b}} \right)} + {\xi\mspace{14mu}{for}\mspace{14mu}{\rho_{e}}}} \leq {b/2}}}\end{matrix} & (1)\end{matrix}$E(ξ)=0E(ξ²)=8 σ_(ELS) ⁴+4A ²σ_(ELS) ² F(ρ_(e))F(ρ_(e))=2 ρ_(e) ² /b ²+½  (2)

Since ½≤F(ρ_(e))≤1, a relatively conservative estimate is F(ρ_(e))=1.

Range rate residual measurements for L1 are given by:Y _(RR) =I _(P) Q _(PO) −I _(PO) Q _(P) =A ² R²(ρ_(e))sin(θ_(eo)−θ_(e))+γ

For a small θ_(e) change over half an I, Q smoothing interval, Δt/2Y _(RR) ≈−A ² R ²(ρ_(e)){dot over (θ)}_(e)(Δt/2)+γ  (3)E(γ)=0E(γ²)=2σ_(PS) ⁴+2A ² R ²(ρ_(e))σ_(PS) ²  (4)

-   -   for |ρ_(e)|≤b/2, 0.25≤R²(ρ_(e))≤1.

A similar measurement set is generated for the GPS L2 carrier signal,resulting in a total of four measurements at each smoothing timeinterval.

The above measurements, Y_(R) and Y_(RR), have desirable propertiesrelative to estimating satellite residual errors for input to thenavigation filter.

In a noiseless environment:Residual range error=true range−estimated range=ρ_(e)=(λ/2π)θ_(e)  (5)

-   -   where λ is the L1 carrier wavelength and θ_(e) is the L1 carrier        phase error.

Further, in the noiseless environment:Residual range rate error=true range rate−estimated range rate={dot over(ρ)}_(e)=(λ/2π){dot over (θ)}_(e)  (6)

The measurements Y_(R) and Y_(RR) are linear in ρ_(e) and {dot over(θ)}_(e) respectively with coefficients that are functions of the I andQ amplitude, A. The dependence of Y_(RR) on R(ρ_(e)) is discussed below.The measurement noise terms, ξ and γ, are additive, unbiased, and white.They are uncorrelated with each other even though some of the noiseterms which make up ξ and γ are correlated. Although they arenon-gaussian, they can still be processed with a Kalman filter byslightly increasing the noise standard deviation.

The negative aspect of the nonlinear measurement transformations is thatthey significantly increase the measurement noise. For this reason, itis desirable to smooth the Is and Qs before they are transformed. TheGPS navigation data bit rate of 50 Hz limits the smoothing interval to20 ms for GPS systems.

When broadband jamming noise is present, the I and Q amplitude, A, canbe relatively accurately estimated by an offline process. If thenavigation filter could be run at 50 Hz instead of 1 Hz, then solvingequations (1), (3) and (6) for ρ_(e) and {dot over (ρ)}_(e) yieldsresidual error estimates that could be directly input to the navigationfilter with appropriately modified measurement noise variances given byequations (2) and (4). The navigation filter's previous estimate ofρ_(e) can be used to determine R(ρ_(e)) in equations (3) and (4).

When the navigation filter is run at 1 Hz, which is its normal rate inan embedded processor, the 1 Hz measurement residuals are typicallyestimated from the 50 Hz measurements given by equations (1) and (3).This estimation can be performed by a Kalman filter which employs arelatively constant phase error acceleration model for its dynamics.

The L1 phase error estimator has states:X=[θ_(e){dot over (θ)}_(e){umlaut over (θ)}_(e)]^(T)

where:

-   -   θ_(e)=measured phase−navigation estimated phase for the GPS L1        frequency.

The state model is:{umlaut over (θ)}_(e)=constant

The dynamics equation is therefore:X(t _(i))=F•X(t _(i−1))

-   -   where:        -   F=Identity(3,3) and        -   F(1,2)=F(2,3)=Δt F(1,3)=Δt₂/2        -   Δt=t_(i)−t_(i−1)

Since both L1 and L2 signals are assumed available, ionospheric errorand error rate terms can be added to the state vector, X_(e). Theseerrors are observable because of the sign reversal in the code andcarrier phase measurements. However, in a high jamming environment,ionospheric errors typically cannot easily be separated from the totalphase measurements during this filter's one second processing time.

The measurement vector is given by:Y(t _(i))=[Y _(R)(f ₁)Y _(RR)(f ₁)Y _(R)(f ₂)Y _(RR)(f ₂)]^(T)

-   -   where:        -   Y_(R) and Y_(RR) are defined by equations (1) and (3), and        -   f₁ and f₂ represent GPS L1 (1575.42 MHz) and L2 (1227.6            MHz).

The measurement equation is:Y(t _(i))=H•X(t _(i))+Γ(t _(i))

-   -   where:        -   Γ(t_(i))=[ξ₁γ₁ξ₂γ₂]^(T), the first and second noise pairs            correspond to L1 and L2,            H=Zeros(4,3), and            H(1,1)=(2A ₁ ² /b)•(λ/2π),            H(2,2)=−A ₁ ² R ²({circumflex over (ρ)}_(e))•Δt/2            H(3,1)=(2A ₂ ² /b)•(λ/2π)            H(4,2)=−A ₂ ² R ²({circumflex over (ρ)}_(e))•Δt/2•(f ₂ /f            ₁),    -   A¹ and A₂ correspond to I and Q amplitudes for L1 and L2        channels respectively, and {circumflex over (ρ)}_(e) represents        the present best estimate of ρ_(e).

The measurement noise variance is given byR(t _(i))=E(ΓΓ^(T))

-   -   where:        -   R is diagonal since the noise terms are not correlated with            each other,        -   R(1,1), R(3,3)=equation (2) for L1 and L2 respectively, and        -   R(2,2), R(4,4)=equation (4) for L1 and L2 respectively.

To completely determine the measurement process, the following valuesare estimated in blocks 311 and 320 as described below.

-   -   σ_(IQ) ²=variance of the additive noise on the Is and Qs (block        320)    -   A₁ and A₂=I and Q amplitudes for L1 and L2 (block 311)

The ATC tracking processor 204 includes nonlinear discriminators 312which transform I and Q data into linear residual measurements corruptedby unbiased, additive, and white noise. It also includes an amplitudeestimator 311 configured to operate in rapidly changing, high powernoise; a measurement noise variance estimator 320; and a linear residualsmoothing filter (GPS signal tracker) 301 for input to the navigationKalman filter 205.

The operation of the phase error estimator for each satellite isdescribed in the following paragraphs.

At discrete time intervals (e.g., one second intervals in oneembodiment), the navigation filter generates new estimates of thevehicle trajectory and IMU errors, which through the strapdownequations, run each of the satellite's NCOs. This causes the phase errorstates defined above to change. Therefore, the phase error estimatormust be reinitialized after each navigation filter cycle.

The best estimate of the initial phase error states is zero. Thus:

(t ₀)=[0 0 0]^(T)

The initial covariance matrix (diagonal), is determined by the maximumexpected phase, phase rate, and phase acceleration errors at start ofeach one second interval.

(t ₀)=E(

(t ₀)

(t ₀)^(T))

After initialization, the measurements are processed at time t_(i), i=0,. . . , 49 (number of 20 ms measurements in a one second interval).

The estimated measurement vector is given by:

)=H•

(t _(i))

Before processing, each measurement is tested using the followingalgorithm, where k_(res) is an input parameter usually between three andten.E _(res)=sqrt[diag(H•

P•H ^(T) +R]for i=1, 4if |Y(t _(i))−

(t _(i))|≥k _(res) •E _(rers)

-   -   H(i,1:2)=0 Do not process the i^(th) measurement end

end

All measurements passing the above test, H(i,i)≠0, are processed by thefollowing filter equations:K(t _(i))=P

_(i))•H ^(T)•[H•

(t _(i))•H ^(T) +R]⁻¹ Kalman filter gain matrix{circumflex over (X)}(t _(i))=X

_(i))+K(t _(i))•[Y(t _(i))−Y

_(i))] Generate new estimates{circumflex over (P)}(t _(i))=[I−K(t _(i))•H]•P

_(i)) Update Error Covariance matrix

In the above equation, I is the identity matrix.

The system then checks for the end of the one second estimatorprocessing interval as follows:

If t_(i)<1 second

-   -   Update estimate and covariance to next processing time        X        ₁)=F•{circumflex over (X)}(t _(i))        (t _(i+1))=F•P({circumflex over (t)} _(i))•F ^(T) +Q    -   Q (3×3)—represents state noise (usually set to zero to assure        maximum smoothing of the measurement noise.        i=i+1    -   Process the next measurement

If t_(i)=one second, then for each satellite, generate range and rangerate residual measurements and accuracies for input to the navigationfilter as follows:DR=(λ/2π)•{circumflex over (X)}(1), σ_(DR) ²=(λ/2π)² •{circumflex over(P)}(1,1)DRR=(λ/2π)•{circumflex over (X)}(2), σ_(DRR) ²=(λ/2π)² •{circumflex over(P)}(2,2)

It is not necessary to account for the correlation between {circumflexover (X)}(1) and {circumflex over (X)}(2) because it is almost alwaysless than 0.2

In one embodiment, each phase error estimator 313 is restarted after thenavigation Kalman filter 205 has completed processing. There is somedata loss with this process. Since the navigation Kalman filter 205takes some finite time to run, the phase error estimators 313 have tooperate in what remains of the one second interval after the navigationKalman filter 205 has stopped. Also, since the satellite signals 20 msdata bit boundaries do not arrive at the same time, not all of the phaseerror estimators 313 complete their last 20 ms processing before thenavigation Kalman filter 205 is ready to receive the inputs from theestimators 313.

In order to completely define the measurements and their associatedaccuracies given by equations (1) through (4), it is useful to computean estimate of the I and Q amplitudes and noise variance. The amplitudesquared measurement in the amplitude estimator 311 is given byA _(M) ²=(I _(E) +I _(L))²+(Q _(E) +Q _(L))²−4 •σ_(ELS) ²=A²+β for|ρ_(e) |b/2whereE(β)=0E(β²)=σ_(AM) ²=8 •σ_(ELS)(2 •σ_(ELS) ² +A ²)

When there are no significant signals interfering, either intentionallyor unintentionally, with the GPS signal, the noise variance, σ_(ELS) ²,is relatively low and a relatively good estimate of the amplitude can bemade by smoothing A_(M) ² over relatively short periods of time.However, broadband signal interference will increase the noise and,through the automatic gain control (AGC) amplifier, cause variations inthe amplitude. Smoothing the measurement in this situation is typicallynot a viable option. The increased noise requires longer smoothing timesbut the amplitude variations limit smoothing times. One way to getaround this situation is to identify something in the process that isrelatively constant so that long term smoothing can be used.

It is assumed that for most of the visible satellites, the satellitesignal amplitude at the GPS antenna remains relatively constant duringperiods of broadband jamming. If the antenna and RF chain are calibratedand temperature compensated, the gain from the input to the GPS antennathrough the RF chain (amplifiers, bandpass filters, mixers, AGCamplifier) will be known to within several dB. A one-state Kalmanestimator for the GPS L1 frequency can be configured as follows:

State:

-   -   a²=satellite signal amplitude squared, assumed constant

State Model:a _(i+1) ² =a _(i) ² +q _(i) E(q)=0, E(q _(i) ²)=QE _(i)

The state noise with variance, QE, is included to account for somevariations in satellite signal amplitudes as the vehicle moves andsatellite orbits change. It can also be used to account for some unknowngain variations in the antenna and RF chain.

The amplitude squared measurement is expressed as

$\begin{matrix}{A_{M}^{2} = {A_{i + 1}^{2} + \beta_{i + 1}}} \\{= {{G_{i + 1}^{2} \cdot a_{i + 1}^{2}} + \beta_{i + 1}}}\end{matrix}$ E(β_(i + 1)²) = σ_(AM)² = RE_(i + 1)

-   -   where G is the total gain from the GPS antenna, through the RF        chain, to I and Q generation. Typically G is known to less than        2 dB.

In one embodiment, the amplitude estimator 311 runs concurrently withthe phase error estimator 313, but it is not reinitialized at one secondintervals. Measurements are processed at 20 ms time intervals.

The initial measurement is used to generate the first estimate, whichmust be in low noise.

(t _(i))=A _(M) ² /G _(i) ²

The initial covariance is given by:

(t _(i))=RE_(i) /G _(i) ⁴

The Kalman filter gain matrix is given by:KE(t _(i))=

E(t _(i))•G _(i) ²•[

E(t _(i))•G _(i) ⁴+RE_(i)]⁻¹

The new estimate is computed from:â ²(t _(i))=a ²

_(i))+KE(t _(i))•[A _(M)(t _(i))−G _(i) ² •a ²

_(i))]

The new error covariance matrix is given by:{circumflex over (P)}E(t _(i) d)=[1−KE(t _(i))•G _(i) ²]•P

_(i))

The updated estimate and covariance at the next processing time is:a ²

_(i+1))=â ²(t _(i))

E(t _(i+1))={circumflex over (P)}E(t _(i))++QE _(i)

The amplitude estimator 311 continues processing measurements at each 20ms timing cycle. A separate estimator is required for each satellite L1and L2 signal.

The amplitude estimator 311 handles broadband interference noise. Duringperiods of low noise, the amplitude measurement is projected backthrough the system gain to estimate the satellite signal amplitude. Thenwhen the interference noise increases, the estimated satellite signalamplitude is projected forward through the system gain to estimate the Iand Q amplitude. In this situation, the noisy I and Q amplitudemeasurement is smoothed using the constant satellite amplitude projectedthrough the system gain.

GPS receivers typically have at least three correlators per satellite(early, prompt, and late) to aid in tracking each satellite's code. Itis assumed that one additional correlator is available for I and Q noiseestimation. In this correlator, the GPS signals are multiplied by thesatellite's reference code which is offset by a significant timedifference from the actual signal code. The correlator, therefore,outputs primarily noise.

Since all satellite signals at a specified frequency arrive at thecorrelators through the same, or similar, RF channel, their compositesignal is corrupted by a single additive noise term. But because eachsatellite code is a different pseudo-random noise sequence, thecorrelation process causes the resulting I and Q noise sequences fordifferent satellite channels to be approximately uncorrelated.Therefore, the I and Q noise variance can be estimated by averaging overtime and across several satellite channels.

The noise is assumed to be zero mean, white, and Gaussian. Thus the onlyparameter to be estimated is the variance.

At time t_(j) the I and Q noise variance computed from M satellitechannels is

${\sigma_{IQ}^{2}\left( t_{j} \right)} = {\left( {1/M} \right){\sum\limits_{i - 1}^{M}\left( {{\eta^{2}\left( {i,j} \right)} + {ɛ^{2}\left( {i,j} \right)}} \right)}}$

where

-   -   η(i,j), ε(i,j) represents noise on the Is and Qs for the i^(th)        satellite at time t_(j).

The noise estimate over N time points is

$\sigma_{IQ}^{2} = {\left( {1/N} \right){\sum\limits_{j - 1}^{N}{\sigma_{IQ}^{2}\left( t_{j} \right)}}}$

A running average filter that approximates the above isσ_(IQ) ²=α•σ_(IQ) ²+(1−α)•σ_(IQ) ²(t _(j)) where (1−α)=1/N

The smoothing parameter, a, can be adjusted depending on the expecteddynamics of the I and Q additive noise.

In one embodiment, the linearity of the discriminator measurements andthe smoothing filter, and the configuration of the amplitude estimatorallow the ATC to handle relatively large magnitude swings in themeasurements due to noise. In one embodiment, the ATC can estimate thestatistics of the noise that allows the parameters in the ATC to beadjusted properly. The system adapts to changing levels of interferenceand can operate without knowledge of the GPS navigation data bit. Sinceits design parameters are provided by application of linear estimationtheory, the ATC can easily be integrated into existing navigation filterdesigns.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a GPS receiver with a MEMS oscillator138 that is stabilized with respect to jitter via a phase-locked loop(PLL) 442. Not all PLL circuits will function as jitter cleaners. Toperform jitter cleaning, the loop bandwidth of the PLL 442 should belower than the bandwidth of the phase noise of the MEMS oscillator 138.The jitter reducing principles of the PLL 442 can also optionally beapplied to a PLL within the frequency synthesizer 140. To avoidrepetition of description, components having the same or similarfunction in FIG. 4 may be referenced by the same reference number asthose in FIG. 1.

As previously discussed, one disadvantage of the use of the MEMSoscillator 138 is that the jitter characteristics can be relativelyworse as compared to a crystal oscillator. Advantageously, with thephase noise of the MEMS oscillator 138 favorably reduced via the PLL442, the GPS receiver can use traditional GPS receiver topologies forthe plurality of channel signal processors 120 and achieve operation inat least one of operating states 3 or 5.

Jitter cleaner circuits are well known by those of ordinary skill in theart. The PLL 442 for the jitter cleaner circuit can correspond to arelatively narrow-band PLL that receives the relatively noisy clocksignal from the MEMS oscillator 138 as an input, and generates a cleanerclock signal as an output by effectively filtering the phase noise byhaving a relatively low loop bandwidth.

The jitter cleaner PLL 442 can correspond to a commercially availablejitter cleaner or clock conditioner or to a proprietary design. Examplesof commercially available jitter cleaner circuits include the Si5338chip from Silicon Labs, the CDCl7005 chip from Texas Instruments, theLMK04800 clock conditioner from National Semiconductor, and the like.

With the jitter cleaner PLL 442, the relatively noisy clock signal fromthe MEMS oscillator 138 can be cleaned up sufficiently to permitsuccessful decoding of the navigation message from GPS signals, that is,permits operation in state 5. This permits the GPS receiver to operatein a standalone manner.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a GPS receiver with a MEMS oscillatorthat is stabilized with respect to jitter via a phase-locked loopequipped with a tunable crystal oscillator (XTAL). In FIG. 5, the MEMSoscillator 138 is combined with the tunable crystal oscillator (XTAL)544 and the PLL 442 to combine the benefits of both types ofoscillators. The PLL 442 uses the lower jitter clock signal from theXTAL 544 to stabilize the clock signal from the MEMS oscillator 138. Dueto the relatively good temperature stability characteristics of the MEMSoscillator 138, the tunable crystal oscillator (XTAL) 544 used forjitter cleaning can be a voltage-controlled crystal oscillator and, as aresult, can be much cheaper than the typical crystal oscillatorsconventionally used in a GPS receivers, which can correspond torelatively expensive temperature-compensated crystal oscillators (TCXO),oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO), and the like. Whileillustrated in connection with crystal oscillators, in alternativeembodiments, other oscillators can be used.

With the PLL 442, the desirable characteristics of a MEMS oscillator,such as relatively low cost, relatively good long-term stability,relatively good temperature coefficient characteristics, and relativelygood g-force stability can be paired with the relatively low-noisecharacteristics of a relatively inexpensive crystal oscillator at arelatively low cost.

Devices employing the above described schemes can be implemented intovarious electronic devices. Examples of the electronic devices caninclude, but are not limited to, consumer electronic products, parts ofthe consumer electronic products, electronic test equipment, etc. Theconsumer electronic products can include, but are not limited to, anautomobile, a camcorder, a camera, a digital camera, a portable memorychip, smart phone, cell phone, a navigation device, etc. Further, theelectronic device can include unfinished products, including those forindustrial, medical, and automotive applications.

Various embodiments have been described above. Although described withreference to these specific embodiments, the descriptions are intendedto be illustrative and are not intended to be limiting. Variousmodifications and applications may occur to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising a global positioningsatellite (GPS) receiver, the apparatus comprising: amicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS) oscillator configured to generatea first clock signal as an output, the first clock signal having a phasenoise with a first bandwidth; a phase-locked loop that has a bandwidthlower than the first bandwidth of the phase noise of the MEMSoscillator; the phase-locked loop configured to: receive the first clocksignal from the MEMS oscillator as an input; and generate an NCO clocksignal that has less phase noise relative to the phase noise of firstclock signal; and a plurality of channel signal processors configured todespread GPS signals and configured to generate pseudo-range estimatesto space vehicles, wherein a channel signal processor of the pluralityof channel signal processors comprises at least one numericallycontrolled oscillator (NCO), wherein the at least one NCO is configuredto receive the NCO clock signal that has less phase noise relative tothe phase noise of first clock signal; wherein one or more channelsignal processors of the plurality of channel signal processors furthercomprise an extractor configured to extract vehicle range and carrierphase residual errors, the extractor comprising a discriminatorconfigured to compute at least two nonlinear transformations to generatelinear measurements of pseudorange and carrier phase errors, wherein theextractor further comprises an I and Q Noise Variance Estimator furthercomprising a running average filter configured to compute the I and Qnoise variance using a separate outbound correlator channel forrespective satellites that is sufficiently away from code that itcontains substantially random noise; and a navigation processorconfigured to extract at least position information based at least onthe plurality of pseudo-range estimates.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein a voltage controlled oscillator of the phase locked loopcomprises a tunable crystal oscillator.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the GPS receiver is integrated with a mobile phone, and whereinthe plurality of channel signal processors and the navigation processorare configured to receive ephemeris information originating from acellular network.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the GPS receiveris integrated with a mobile phone, and wherein the plurality of channelsignal processors and the navigation processor are configured to receiveephemeris information originating from a wide area network.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of channel signal processorsand the navigation processor are configured to retrieve ephemerisinformation from a data store, wherein the data store is populated withephemeris information originating from a source external to theapparatus.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or more channelsignal processors of the plurality of channel signal processors furthercomprises an advanced tight coupling (ATC) tracking processor configuredto calculate and provide at least range, range rate, and rangeacceleration residuals to a navigation Kalman filter.
 7. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein one or more channel signal processors of theplurality of channel signal processors further comprise an extractorconfigured to extract vehicle range and carrier phase residual errors,the extractor comprising a discriminator configured to compute at leasttwo nonlinear transformations to generate linear measurements ofpseudorange and carrier phase errors.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein one or more channel signal processors of the plurality ofchannel signal processors further comprise an extractor configured toextract vehicle range and carrier phase residual errors, the extractorcomprising a discriminator configured to compute at least two nonlineartransformations to generate linear measurements of pseudorange andcarrier phase errors, wherein the extractor is configured to extractvehicle range and carrier phase residual errors in the presence ofinterference signals, wherein the extractor comprises a linearestimator.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or more channelsignal processors of the plurality of channel signal processors furthercomprise an extractor configured to extract vehicle range and carrierphase residual errors, the extractor comprising a discriminatorconfigured to compute at least two nonlinear transformations to generatelinear measurements of pseudorange and carrier phase errors, wherein theextractor further comprises respective tracking processors forrespective satellites, wherein a given tracking processor accepts early,late, and on-time I and Q data from the GPS signal tracker and outputsvehicle to satellite range and/or range rate residual measurements to anavigation Kalman filter, wherein the tracking processor comprises: atleast one amplitude estimator to accept I and Q data and outputestimates of the I and Q amplitudes for L1 and L2 signals; at least onediscriminator to transform I and Q data into measurements of satelliterange and carrier phase error residuals; and at least one phase errorestimator to process discriminator measurements for input to thenavigation Kalman filter.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one ormore channel signal processors of the plurality of channel signalprocessors further comprise an extractor configured to extract vehiclerange and carrier phase residual errors, the extractor comprising adiscriminator configured to compute at least two nonlineartransformations to generate linear measurements of pseudorange andcarrier phase errors, wherein the extractor further comprises respectivetracking processors for respective satellites, wherein a given trackingprocessor accepts early, late, and on-time I and Q data from the GPSsignal tracker and outputs vehicle to satellite range and/or range rateresidual measurements to a navigation Kalman filter, wherein thetracking processor comprises: at least one amplitude estimator to acceptI and Q data and output estimates of the I and Q amplitudes for L1 andL2 signals; at least one discriminator to transform I and Q data intomeasurements of satellite range and carrier phase error residuals; andat least one phase error estimator to process discriminator measurementsfor input to the navigation Kalman filter, wherein the trackingprocessor is configured to filter the Is and Qs for a period of timecorresponding to an amount of time that a navigation data bit isexpected to be constant.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one ormore channel signal processors of the plurality of channel signalprocessors further comprise an extractor configured to extract vehiclerange and carrier phase residual errors, the extractor comprising adiscriminator configured to compute at least two nonlineartransformations to generate linear measurements of pseudorange andcarrier phase errors, wherein the extractor further comprises respectivetracking processors for respective satellites, wherein a given trackingprocessor accepts early, late, and on-time I and Q data from the GPSsignal tracker and outputs vehicle to satellite range and/or range rateresidual measurements to a navigation Kalman filter, wherein thetracking processor comprises: at least one amplitude estimator to acceptI and Q data and output estimates of the I and Q amplitudes for L1 andL2 signals; at least one discriminator to transform I and Q data intomeasurements of satellite range and carrier phase error residuals; andat least one phase error estimator to process discriminator measurementsfor input to the navigation Kalman filter, wherein the filtered Is andQs signals are provided to one or more nonlinear transformationsconfigured according to their linearity and additive noise properties,comprising: a range residual transformation, made up of the early andlate Is and Qs to produce a measurement that is a linear function ofrange residual error; a range rate residual transformation, made up ofthe prompt Is and Qs, to produce a measurement that is a linear functionof range rate residual error with the square of the correlation functionremaining as a multiplier; and an estimator of the I and Q amplitude andnoise variance to define the transformed measurements and their noisestatistics, wherein the noise on each discriminator is substantiallyadditive, substantially zero mean, and substantially white with avariance given by a deterministic equation dominated by the variance ofthe I and Q noise.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or morechannel signal processors of the plurality of channel signal processorsfurther comprise an extractor configured to extract vehicle range andcarrier phase residual errors, the extractor comprising a discriminatorconfigured to compute at least two nonlinear transformations to generatelinear measurements of pseudorange and carrier phase errors, wherein theextractor further comprises respective tracking processors forrespective satellites, wherein a given tracking processor accepts early,late, and on-time I and Q data from the GPS signal tracker and outputsvehicle to satellite range and/or range rate residual measurements to anavigation Kalman filter, wherein the tracking processor comprises: atleast one amplitude estimator to accept I and Q data and outputestimates of the I and Q amplitudes for L1 and L2 signals; at least onediscriminator to transform I and Q data into measurements of satelliterange and carrier phase error residuals; and at least one phase errorestimator to process discriminator measurements for input to thenavigation Kalman filter, wherein the at least one phase error estimatorcomprises a three-state phase error estimator configured to process therange and range rate transformed measurements are processed in order toobtain residual error estimates at approximately one second intervalsfor the navigation Kalman filter.
 13. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinone or more channel signal processors of the plurality of channel signalprocessors further comprise an extractor configured to extract vehiclerange and carrier phase residual errors, the extractor comprising adiscriminator configured to compute at least two nonlineartransformations to generate linear measurements of pseudorange andcarrier phase errors, wherein the extractor further comprises respectivetracking processors for respective satellites, wherein a given trackingprocessor accepts early, late, and on-time I and Q data from the GPSsignal tracker and outputs vehicle to satellite range and/or range rateresidual measurements to a navigation Kalman filter, wherein thetracking processor comprises: at least one amplitude estimator to acceptI and Q data and output estimates of the I and Q amplitudes for L1 andL2 signals; at least one discriminator to transform I and Q data intomeasurements of satellite range and carrier phase error residuals; andat least one phase error estimator to process discriminator measurementsfor input to the navigation Kalman filter, wherein the at least onephase error estimator comprises a three-state phase error estimatorconfigured to process the range and range rate transformed measurementsare processed in order to obtain residual error estimates atapproximately one second intervals for the navigation Kalman filter,wherein the three-state phase error estimator comprises a Kalman filtercomprising three phase error states (L1 phase, phase rate, and phaseacceleration), which are propagated assuming that the phase accelerationis constant; a linear dynamics equation with a constant transitionmatrix; four measurements for respective satellites; range and rangerate for L1 and L2 signals with measurement noise that is substantiallyunbiased; a measurement noise matrix dominated by the I and Q noisevariance in low signal to noise environments; and a measurement noisefilter input variance increased to account for non-gaussian measurementnoise.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or more channel signalprocessors of the plurality of channel signal processors furthercomprises an extractor configured to extract vehicle range and carrierphase residual errors, the extractor comprising a discriminatorconfigured to compute at least two nonlinear transformations to generatelinear measurements of pseudorange and carrier phase errors, wherein theextractor further comprises an amplitude estimator configured to producea nonrandom multiplier for the range and range rate residual errormeasurements during periods of high signal interference, which helps thephase error estimator perform properly in a high noise environment asfollows: when the interference noise is low, the I and Q amplitudemeasurement is projected back through a system gain to estimate theconstant satellite signal amplitude and when the noise increases, thesatellite signal amplitude estimate is projected forward through thesystem gain to estimate the I and Q amplitude.
 15. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein one or more channel signal processors of the pluralityof channel signal processors further comprises an extractor configuredto extract vehicle range and carrier phase residual errors, theextractor comprising a discriminator configured to compute at least twononlinear transformations to generate linear measurements of pseudorangeand carrier phase errors, wherein the extractor further comprises an Iand Q Noise Variance Estimator further comprising a running averagefilter configured to compute a sample variance of noise in one or moreoutbound satellite correlator channels.
 16. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein one or more channel signal processors of the plurality ofchannel signal processors further comprises an extractor configured toextract vehicle range and carrier phase residual errors, the extractorcomprising a discriminator configured to compute at least two nonlineartransformations to generate linear measurements of pseudorange andcarrier phase errors, wherein the extractor further comprises anamplitude estimator configured to use an approximately-constantsatellite signal amplitude at the antenna as the state to be estimated.17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or more channel signalprocessors of the plurality of channel signal processors is furtherconfigured to adapt to changing levels of interference without knowledgeof a GPS navigation data bit.
 18. An apparatus comprising a globalpositioning satellite (GPS) receiver, the apparatus comprising: amicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS) oscillator configured to generatea first clock signal as an output, the first clock signal having a phasenoise with a first bandwidth; a phase-locked loop that has a bandwidthlower than the first bandwidth of the phase noise of the MEMSoscillator; the phase-locked loop configured to: receive the first clocksignal from the MEMS oscillator as an input; and generate an NCO clocksignal that has less phase noise relative to the phase noise of firstclock signal; and a plurality of channel signal processors configured todespread GPS signals and configured to generate pseudo-range estimatesto space vehicles, wherein a channel signal processor of the pluralityof channel signal processors comprises at least one numericallycontrolled oscillator (NCO), wherein the at least one NCO is configuredto receive the NCO clock signal that has less phase noise relative tothe phase noise of first clock signal; a navigation processor configuredto extract at least position information based at least on the pluralityof pseudo-range estimates; a strapdown inertial measurement unit (IMU);a navigation Kalman filter configured to process vehicle range andcarrier phase residual signals to generate vehicle position, velocity,attitude, and time estimates along with IMU error estimates; a strapdownnavigation processor configured to integrate the IMU measurementsbetween the navigation Kalman filter processing intervals, wherein thestrapdown navigation processor is configured to receive navigation stateerror estimates from the navigation Kalman filter, and wherein thestrapdown navigation processor is configured to receive navigation datafrom the IMU; and a satellite navigation message decoder configured toprovide satellite position, velocity, and acceleration (PVA) data to aprocessor-implemented satellite line of sight projection estimator andto the navigation Kalman filter; wherein the processor-implementedsatellite line of sight projection estimator to project navigation dataonto the satellite line of sight, generate range and range ratemeasurements, and provide these measurements to one or more NumericallyControlled Oscillators configured to provide code and carrier signalsfor GPS signal phase de-rotation and correlation.